Introduction

Wengrow, one of the most ancient communities in the country of Poland,
was, according to the story, about 800 years old at its destruction. As
in each community,
[1]
it had both periods
of prosperity, and times of hardship. The dynastic history is one of the
most honorable in greater Poland: in her Rabbis, her Judges, her participation
in the committee of 4 countries, her Chassidim, Parties, important people
and the plain inhabitants which were most of her people. Legend states,
that Reb Yehuda Ha'Chassid and his followers were there, before they went
up to Eretz-Yisrael, they learned in its ancient Beis-Midrash and went
to the Mikvah in its basement. There were many other Betei-Midrash, and
Synagogues, built with thick walls, and seen in the distance were the Ten
Commandments on the front of the building; on the internal walls were pictures
which were the work of much thought, and rare sculptures. The Admor
of Kaloshin put into it his soul, and many Chassidim came from the local
area, and from far away.

The Historians claim that Wengrow was founded in 1414, and what was
before its foundation is hidden in fog. In the 15th century, people arrived
from Western Poland, looking for a place to live in the East; in those
days it was a point of Eastern light on a border of silence, bordering
Lithuania. Afterwards the city was attached to the Duchy of Mazovia.
Through the market place there were two main roads, one – from Lithuania
to Warsaw, and the other, from Dagnansak to Lokov. On the roads there were
still wild animals, and they were considered unsafe, and having Wengrow
on the main roadway, and the river route, on the right bank of the river
Livietz was very good. In the middle of the 16th century there
was a published document connected to the Religious Reformation which was
then sweeping Poland; in 1570 a printing house was established (which didn't
exist for very long) and a school which was famous throughout Poland.

It is accepted among the natives of the city, that close to the holocaust
there were 8000 people living there, and at the height of the German conquest
the population doubled (as full as it was, it was warmly hospitable
to refugees from Wishfkov, Poltosek, Tishnitz, Makov, and others who were
forced into Wengrow) According to the older books that we have, there were
some 1430-1580 residents (approx. 286 families) in 1840 - 3902 residents
(of them 2130 Jews) in 1921 – 9416 residents, (of them 5100 Jews)

As far as the socio-economic status, the city had a working class, people
who lived by the sweat of their brows, and only a few merchants.
In general, it was known for its knitting, (done at home by women and girls)
and its Torah Scroll writers (sofrei-stam) and those who made boxes for
Tefillin. The political activities of all the parties (each party that
existed in the Jewish world was represented there, in large or small numbers)
and Zionist youth movements put their stamp on the residents, in addition
to activists who worked for labor unions and all the political arguments
found their way into the clubs of the Chassidim, and the Jewish "hat"
wearers. The public struggle was active and temperamental, in internal
elections for the city and the community, and in elections for the Zionist
Conference, Activities in Eretz Yisrael and so forth. The town's character
as though it belonged to an earlier generation, and the Jewish charm were
found on Shabbatot and Jewish holidays, which were accepted while it was
still daytime, and the religious flavor predominated. The Shabbat candles
gave light and happiness and the songs of Shabbat gave a sweetness to the
heart. In fact, from the holiness of the day they drew the strength and
faith to survive the difficulties of the gray and depressing everyday
life.

Wengrow was one of the last cities in Poland to fall to the Nazi beast.
While it was still sitting calmly, before the first world war and after
it, many of its children left, some to Eretz Yisrael as Chalutzim, some
to Argentina and the US, and other places. These small groups kept their
love for their old home, and remained in contact with its residents, and
in the terrible time they were the core which accepted the survivors, who
arrived by way of Siberia, Persia, the Camps, freed Poland. The refugees
found help and assistance, they told the story of the horrors they'd survived,
and gave testimony, and remained a living warning: Never to forget what
the Germans and their helpers did to us.

As in other communities, here also the idea came up, to create a memorial
to the city and its residents – this book of remembrance. In 1940, Mr.
Efraim Przepiurka, who visited Wengrow in its last days before World War
II, collected information and documents. He saw the people of his city
in their fear, and their hope, and their illusions, stayed with them, talked
to them, and took pictures which were saved in this way. In
the end of December 1945, a general meeting of the Wengrow Association
in Tel Aviv met, and decided to put out a book of remembrance. The collection
of material (testimony, lists, documents and pictures) continued for years.
The sources, a rare collection from "Yad Ve'Shem"; collecting testimony
by volunteers for years; German posters, and letters of the aid society
of the Yudenrat in Wengrow, and the Social help of the Chassidic
organization of Krakow; an article from the "Jewish Newspaper" in
Krakow in 1941; memories and testimony of survivors; the collection of
pictures from the time of the holocaust and the years previous to it.

With the intention of knowing the depths of the city – the Archivists
of the community itself, the "Book Society" spoke to Mr. Nissan Slotzky,
a young researcher from Jerusalem, who worked for some years and found
the history of the city and the community, based on historical and
bibliographical
sources from their time, from the beginning of the 15th century.
To this he added a collection of documents, from the "Jewish Court Records"
("Pinkas Hadayanim") a rare and valuable resource- pictures of about a
dozen documents from 150-175 years ago – and managed to decode them.
The results of this research is given in the book in its original Hebrew
and also translated into Yiddish.

In 1954 it was decided to complete the publication of the book.
The author Moshe Tamari was contacted, and he took on this project.
Since in his youth, in 1930, Mr. Tamari was in our town for close to a
year, as a representative of a Zionist Youth Group, his memories of that
time left their stamp on him and this book.

With the completion of this project we see the fulfillment of a Holy
requirement to memorialize our loved ones, and a privilege to us, the "book
committee" who worked day and night, in hundreds of meetings, in collection
of data, and checking it, in collating facts and documents, collecting
money and using it efficiently, and all that is connected to publishing.
Maybe we didn't reach perfection, there are some names and dates missing,
perhaps some facts, but we did all in our power to do the maximum.

Our thanks to our organizations in Israel and in other countries,
and to all of the children of our city, in Argentina, in the USA, in France,
and it's survivors wherever they are, that thanks to their help and financial
aid – this book was made possible. Especially to Mr. Shlomo Zvolodovitz,
a son of our city who lives in Venezuela, who gave a lot of himself to
this book and even worked to get information in universities and
libraries, which helped us in collecting historical material and documentation.
To Mr. Nissan Slotzky, on his scientific contributions. To Mr. M. Tamari,
who sifted the material, edited it, and prepared it for printing, arranged
its format and its content – and thanks to him our desire was fulfilled.
To the printing company "Achdut"' and its workers who created this
book with love and dedication, and to Mr. Moshe Vizlberg, who helped
us with advice from his experience. To the members of the committee
in Argentina, D. Eizenberg, Z. Glicksberg; . To the printing company "Achdut"'
and its workers who created this book with love and dedication, and
to Mr. Moshe Vizlberg, who helped us with advice from his
experience.
To the members of the committee in Argentina, D. Eizenberg, Z. Glicksberg,
Y. Holland, Y. Varnick, M. Zivnitz, A. Zilbershtein, P. Tashpov, Y. Nivisky,
Y. Friedman, H. Przepiurka, A. Kochan, V. Shdlinsky, - who worked very
hard for this book, in both spiritual and physical ways, and accompanied
its labor pains for a distance with great interest and dedication.
To our comrades H. Brener and D. Recanat, from the USA, may all of them
be blessed.

While the destroyer cut off millions of souls from Israel – not only
those alone he wanted to destroy - but the generations that could
have come after them – with the help of G-d and the hand of fate, some
were left, a few remnants of the ancient and glorious tree of Polish Jewry,
that the destroyer tried to finish.

Full of awe of this holy work, to write down all memories, we are left
without speech. Let the pages of this book, full of blood and tears, be
a remembrance for our loved ones, whose blood was spilled on the
stones of their city, who died of torture, who went up in smoke in the
crematoria of Treblinka, and may this book be in the homes of all of the
children of our city, as a sign of what was destroyed, as a testimony to
the peoples who stood in our blood, and a tombstone on graves whose places
are unknown, and on the mass graves, in remembrance to them and to those
who come after them.
The name of the community of Wengrow, hundreds of years old, will never
leave our hearts, and the hearts of our children, forever.

The Book Committee

Footnote

1. In the context of this introduction, the word Community implies
Jewish Community as opposed to any other meaning.
Back

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc.
and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of fulfilling our
mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and
destroyed Jewish communities. This material may not be copied,
sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be
reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.